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Imprint, Friday, October 13, 2000
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Parking lot proposal angers community Student residents not notified of plan to pave park SUSAN B U B A K Imprint staff
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Waterloo church's proposal to pave paradise andput up a parking lot has many area residents outraged. ~akeshoreBible Chapel, located just north of the campus at 470 Glenelm Crescent, wants to build an addition that would triple the size of thechurch anda95space parking lot across the street. The parking lot isacontentious issue for the community because it will be consrructed on a field that many residents use for recreational purposes. "When I first heard about it, I was angry," said A.J. Hepburn, one of many residents who oppose the parkinglot proposal. "My sonplays there. My neighbour's children play there." Carlo Sgro, a father of three who has lived on Glenelm Crescent for 11 years, said, "There's quite a fewstudentswho rent [accommodations] around here and there are also familieswithkidslikemyselfwhouse the field." Residents often use the field to play soccer, football, baseball and volleyball, throw frisbees and walk their dogs. "If we lose that green space," said Sgro, "we're going to lose something that's very valuable to this neighbourhood."
Residents fear that the expansion of the churchand the parking lot will bring more traffic, noise and pollution to their neighbourhood. The necessity of the parking lot is also questionable because churchgoers would only use it once a week the field for Sunday se~iceswhereas can be used for recreationseven days a week. However, the Albert McCormick Community Centre, located next-door to the church, could also use the parking lot for overflow parking. .' Both Hepburn and Sgro are actively involved in the anti-parking lot campaign. Hepburn collected over 150 signatures on a petition while Sgropostednotices in the neighbourhood'slow-riseapartmentbutldings. The City of Waterloo Development Services came under fire for not notifying the neighbourhood's tenants of the parking lot proposal. Last month, the City sent letters to property owners, but not to house or apartment renters, many of whom are students. Sgro explained that "any students who are renting didn't get any notification, [nor did] anybodywho lives in the apartment buildings, and they're definitely in the majority around here." Lesley Bell of the City's Development Services explained that let-
Favouredgreen-spacein neinhbourhoodto be pavedfor church parkinn. terswere sent to property owners in accordancewith the Provincial Planning Act, which "dictates who we have to give notice to." She added that property owners could have passed on the notice to their tenants. But criticsarguethat sending a letter to an apartment owner isnot aseffectiveas sendinga letter toevery tenant in the building. Bell explained that the City
keeps a record of property owners, but not tenants. "The statutory notice is mailed outto assessedproperty owners. We take that from the assessment roll. We wouldn't knowwho's renting [because] there's no list; there's no formal database with that information." When residents found out about the parking lot proposal, "we receivedmany phonecallsandletters,"
said Bell. "I've asked the [church] to hold a neighbourhood meeting [on Oct. 17 at 700 p.m.] so they can explain the proposal." She added that city officialswillattend the meeting to listen to the residents' concerns. Waterloo City Councilwill then decide the fate of an oasis in a concrete jungle of pavedroadsandparkinglots.
n the big apple 150 University Ave.W.
K R ~ S T AR A N A C H E R special to Imprint
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arrive hours before the start of the discussions. Despite sleep deprivation all participated admirably and productively. If conversations that continued after hours are any indication, some interesting new friendships andcross border academic alliances have been struck. The students did a very life-like role play of the UN at a debate over the issue of multilateral sanctions. This served to demonstrate the im-
en Univerity of Waterloo Conrad Grebe1 College peace andconflictstudesstudents conferred with senior United Nations officialsand discussedpolicy with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) at the latter's student conferencethispastweekendinNew York City. The conference's theme was "Multilateral Sanctions: alternative to war or weapons of massdestruction?"The annual conference is organized by the MCC's liaison to the UN. Presentersincludedofficials from several important secretariatsof the world body such as the Security Council, ExternalRelations, Policy De- velopment and Advocacy Branch, mense humanitarian, political and which co-ordinates humanitarian militarycomplexity of the sanctions affairs, and a representative from regimes that the UNisadministering the Permanent Missionof Canadato at this time. The sanctions against the United Nations. Iraq were discussed at length and Student participants from conference participants were reMennonite colleges acrossthe United lieved to learn that the sanctions States and Canada were in New regime that continues to perpetuate York City from Thursday to Satur- a humanitarian disaster in Iraq is a day. There were about 40 partici- complete failure in the eyes of the pants in all, with good participation UN. in conference activities despite the The Canadian students got a distraction of staying in the city that welcome shot of national pride when never sleeps. The Grebelcontingent we discussed the Fowler Initiative drove through Wednesday night to and the qualified success of the dia-
mondembargoon theUNITArebels in Angola. As head of the Angolasanctions committee,Canada's former ambassador to t h e w Robert Fowler broke new ground in the administration of sanction regimes. He showed the other sanctions committees how to go about practicallytargetingpower elitesinrogue administrations,gathering evidence of the successes and humanitarian costs of the resulting sanctionsand reporting findingsbacked with ironclad evidence. The students were provided with the opportunity of touring the United Nations complex. They had their pictures taken in the Security Council and General Assembly. They managed to impress their guide with their knowledge of the workings of the organization and recent resolutions, especially on the sanctions issue. The studentscarneaway withan overall better understanding of the United Nations as a slow-moving vessel of international civil society. They also left with a new respect of the importance of sharing information and experience, promoting relationshipsand networksandgeneral$acknowled&gthe - - power of communication in shaping a peaceful world.
M1ultilateral sanctions: alternative to war or of mass destruction?